


Defective

by MsJonathanWalsh (PhantomWriterAnon)



Category: People of Earth (TV 2016)
Genre: Aliens, Blankets, Cuddling & Snuggling, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Nightmares, Oblivious Ozzie, Pillow & Blanket Forts, Platonic Cuddling, Post-Season/Series 01, They're Just Like Us Folks
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-03
Updated: 2017-02-03
Packaged: 2018-09-21 16:46:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,560
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9557765
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PhantomWriterAnon/pseuds/MsJonathanWalsh
Summary: Jonathan Walsh had been considered 'defective' long before he decided to disobey orders and save Ozzie's life.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So, this is loosely based off of two of my headcannons for People of Earth...
> 
> #1 - the reason we haven't seen any female aliens is that aliens are protogynous hermaphrodites, meaning they can switch back and forth between the genders
> 
> #2 - the closest earth equivalent to the Reptilian is the snake, and snakes do not parent their young, so Jonathan actually choosing to raise his daughter made him an outcast long before the events of S1

"He's really not that bad, y'know." For the first time in over an hour, Ozzie made eye contact with the little girl sitting across from him at the activity table. She flashed him a small half-smile, before taking one of the child-safe crayons in her chubby fist and doodling on the paper she'd been slaving over since Ozzie had arrived. 

"Who? Snake Man?" The older child shivered - even the name itself sounded sinister. Ozzie didn't know where he was or why he was there, but he'd heard enough stories to know that weird men didn't just take little boys so that they could color and play with toys. 

"Is that what he told you to call him?" She rolled her eyes, "I just call him Mommy."

Ozzie raised an eyebrow, "Mommy?"

The little girl nodded, "Yeah, y'know. The Mommy is the one that pops out the baby." She looked at him as if he were absolutely dumb, "They kiss your booboos to make 'em feel better, and read you bedtime stories, and give you lots of hugs and kisses, and make yucky food that you have to eat so you don't hurt their feelings -,"

Ozzie blinked several times, letting her words sink in. Finally, he cut her off, "I  _know_ what a Mommy is. But Snake Man is a... is a... well, he's a  _man_."

"We don't have males and females like humans. That's part of the reason why we find you so fascinating." She said. "We're  _protogynous hermaphrodites_. That means we can change back and forth."

"Proto... Proto..." he struggled with the word, wondering why this four-year-old could spit it out so easily. 

"Protogynous." She said again, nice and slow. Ozzie just nodded, taking her word for it. 

Ozzie watched her for a moment, perplexed. This little girl, dressed in a bright white sundress and light pink sandals, was just like the other children in the Observation Room. If it weren't for the luminescent green scales that acted as her skin, or her light green, snake-like eyes... she really could've been just like the others. 

His attention shifted to the picture she'd been working on so dutifully. It was filled with symbols and words that he didn't understand, just a mish-mosh of color that he assumed meant something important. He'd seen Snake Man make similar markings on his clipboard as he watched the children interact with the various objects he'd gifted them. 

"I'm Pandora, by the way." She said after several moments of silence. 

"Why should I care?" He hadn't meant for it to sound as harsh as it did, but he was still scared and this girl, despite her best efforts, really wasn't making things any better. 

Pandora shrugged, "I think it's nice to get to know people. We don't have a lot of visitors here." She sounded almost... sad, but continued drawing as if she hadn't noticed the change in her tone. "You won't be here very long, and you won't remember any of this anyway..." she trailed off, "But I'll remember you. And I like to connect faces to names."

That seemed reasonable enough. But why was she so sure he would forget all of this? "I'm Ozzie."

* * *

**Present Day**

"I'm ho-" Ozzie stood in the doorway, staring at what had to be the single largest blanket fort he'd ever seen dwarfing the shoddy motel room he called home. 

What the actual fuck?

Just then, a tiny body came sprinting out from the confines of the fortress, laughing wildly as she ran away from an unseen assailant. She ran right into Ozzie, before attempting to use his leg like a ladder to climb her way to safety. Ozzie, able to take the hint, reached down and scooped her up into his arms just as Jonathan emerged from the fort, clutching a crude cardboard sword in one hand and a pair of the little girl's pajamas in the other. 

"Ozzie! Ozzie! You got to save me from the evil Captain Sleepytime!" The little girl's blue eyes were wide as she pointed an accusatory finger at Jonathan, before attempting to climb even higher atop her savior. "Don't let 'im trick you! The warm milk and jammies is how he draws you in!"

Jonathan brandished the sword, and the little girl laughed when the blade flopped over uselessly. "You will surrender to me, Princess Pandora! The Kingdom of Pandoraland shall be mine!"

"Never!" Pandora exclaimed, "Ozzie, to the kitchen! Everyone knows that soda is Captain Sleepytime's one true weakness!"

Ah, so they were playing a game... and Ozzie had just gotten dragged into the middle. Not that he really minded, though. Sometimes, he couldn't help but feel a little left out, what with Jonathan only recently trusting him with the fact that he had a daughter in the first place. But Pandora had gravitated to him almost immediately, like they were old friends. She liked to include him in her little ventures into the world of make-believe, and Ozzie was almost always more than happy to oblige her. 

He made his way over to the kitchen, trying not to roll his eyes as Jonathan took exaggeratedly slow steps toward them. He might've hesitated if he thought the girl was actually going to drink the soda, but he'd played this game enough times to know how it was bound to end. Stooping down, he let Pandora pull the fridge open and grab a can of Sprite, which she then proceeded to shake wildly. Just as Jonathan was about to close the gap between them, she popped the tab and sprayed him, from head to toe, with the lemon-lime beverage. 

"Ahh!" Jonathan placed a hand over his heart, stumbling backward. The sword fell out of his hand. "I've been struck!"

"Down, you evildoer!" Pandora howled, making sure that every inch of Jonathan was appropriately soaked. 

Once Jonathan was down, Pandora watched him for a moment, before slithering down Ozzie's lanky form and shuffling over to him uncertainly. She poked him in the ribs with her tiny, sock-clad foot, before Jonathan quickly swooped up, dwarfed her in his arms, and brought her down into the sticky mess she'd made of his shirt. 

"No fair! You cheated!" She puffed out her cheeks and pouted, but her tiny tantrum was averted when Jonathan began to tickle just below her ribcage. "M-Mommy! Stop that, it tickles!"

"I never did understand why she insists on calling you 'Mommy'." Ozzie remarked off-handedly, not really expecting to be heard. But both parent and child froze, looking between each other and the unsuspecting human currently attempting to clean the mess that they'd made. 

After a moment, Jonathan shrugged, "It's not like I mind, if that's what you're implying. I'm quite honored to be this little angel's Mommy."

Ozzie shrugged, knowing when it was best to just stop poking the bear. "Regardless, Mommy and his little angel  _both_ need a bath before they get anywhere  _near_ my bed, understood?"

Pandora stuck out her tongue at him, and Ozzie childishly returned the gesture. "Why does Ozzie gotta ruin all the fun?"

"Maybe we'll make him be Captain Sleepytime next time - the bane of energetic children's existence everywhere." Jonathan planted a wet kiss on her forehead, right between her eyes. "But he's right, y'know. Getting in bed while we're all sticky is just plain gross."

Ozzie did his best to clean up while Jonathan and Pandora were getting ready for bed - after tossing their sticky clothes in the laundry hamper, mopping up the soda that hadn't quite met it's mark, readjusting some of the pillows that had fallen off of the bed in the commotion, and admiring the gigantic pillow fort resting overtop the bed like a canopy (and wondering where in the world they'd found so many pillows and blankets... and how they'd gotten them to stay there so perfectly...), he warmed up a cup of milk for the little girl and fixed Jonathan a cup of tea. 

They'd both need something to help them unwind after that lovely little adventure. 

* * *

An hour later, the three were tucked cozily into Ozzie's crappy motel room bed, nestled within the safety of the blanket fort. Pandora looked like a human burrito, wrapped up in half a dozen blankets as she suckled on her milk, just a few short seconds away from succumbing to sleep. Jonathan had already finished his sleepy time tea and, one arm strewn over both their bodies and his face plastered to his pillow, mouth open in an obnoxious snore as drool steadily poured out the side of his mouth. 

Finished with her drink, Pandora handed her special bedtime cup to Ozzie and let him set it on the bedside table, before grabbing his arm and pulling it down over her as well. Ozzie froze, unsure what to do about this latest development. Sure, the kid usually slept between them - there wasn't much room for her to sleep anywhere else, honestly. But she usually spent the night burrowed into Jonathan, acting like an extra appendage. The kid didn't usually make an effort to cuddle with him. 

Pandora looked at him expectantly, "Extra protection against the nightmares." She twisted so that she was sideways, her lower half on Jonathan and her head buried in Ozzie's chest. "G'night, Ozzie."

Lazily, he drew his fingers through the little girl's inky tresses, "G'night, Pandora."

 


End file.
